Police catches 93,000 fake lei bills

The police has held up a gang from Chisinau trying to swap 93,000 fake notes – 50-lei bills – against 46,500 genuine lei, Info-Prim Neo reports. The gang was caught after an under-cover officer had been infiltrated into it, Vitalie Briceag, a top police officer told a news conference on Friday. One of the suspects was arrested after he made the 'deal' with the under-cover officer in a car. Immediately the other members of the group were detained. The police was also searching six dwellings in Chisinau, Gratiesti and Hulboaca villages. “We have lifted all the equipment used to counterfeit the bills,” Briceag said. The lab was also forging documents, such as education diplomas. Vitalie Briceag says more than 300,000 counterfeited lei would be running in the country now. Another police officer, Ina Irjanova, has said the counterfeited bills are of high quality, very close in appearance to the authentic money. The counterfeiters were studying at universities from Moldova and Romania. Now they may stay in jail from la 7 to 15 years.